PRESENT,

PRESENT,

PRESENT,

PRESENT,

TECHNICAL EDITOR Mark E. Tuttle ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS Robert C Schwarz David W. Windstein

THE PRESENT, THE PAST, THE F1JTURE, AND THE JUBILEE

PUBLISHER Kenneth A Galione

The Pmsent flows on and becomes the Pasl. The Past will repeat itself and thus heconw tlw Futun~. So, if we undm-stand the Past we hold a key to the Futun!. I believe I heard this hil of wisdom on a Star Trek pmgmm. But it also expluir~s th(\ signifir.ancP of r.elehrating th{! Juhilne of strain gagt•s, load cells and otlwr tmnsducers. and hrittle coatings hy l!mphasizing the PEOPLE involved - so many of whom arc still alive today. Even in Dr. J. Hans MeierJs 19:.18 PhD disserlation lw descrihed Sl!lftemperature-compensated strain gages. Filiy yem·s later them is a new generation of engineers who lack tlw under standing of the principles and limitations of these fundamental expl!l'imentalmethods. They haVI! not studi1!d the past. Sir Charles \\'heat stone mpor·ted in 1/W:I that tensions in the wir·es in his eir·cuil disturbed its halance. How many prohlems do we still encmrntt!r in which strains in lead wires am the rl!al cause of our nwasuring system output? And have we found a way to recognize a new phenomenon when nature hands it to us? Wheatstone didn't! William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, was really in\'estigating the l!ffect of strain on the calihnttion of tlwnnocouples when he acdden tally found that the ell!l:tr·ical resistance of his wir·es chang1!d too. liE recognized what he had found! But cold-worked, strained thermocouples ill't! still a prol>lem today- olien unrecognized and undiagnosed. Tlw r-eminiscences of the old-timers at the Juhilee Celehrations will he far from idll! story-telling. Their experiences, often unpuhlislwd and trnsung, will carry lessons for our futtwe. Mistakes of the past should not he doomed to he forever n!peatml hy new genenttions of insufficiently well-educated engineers. Fifty years ago, without the glamour of computers and the sophistication of interactive, progr·ammahle data-acquisition systems, experimenter-s had to use their heads, and maintain a physical understanding of tlwir str·uctures, test specimens and nwasuring systems. They learned what to expect and what to suspect. They never blindly accepted the outputs of their· ml!asuring systems. Many of the original pioneers were much too busy solving pmhlems to wr·ite rwat little papers for publication so th1! res! of the world could use tlwir accunmlatml wisdom. fJuringtheJuhill!l!, long-dormant solutions to prohlems which still plague us today. will he dusted off and, finally, disdosed. This time the pioneers don't have to wr·ite a thing! Everything will he taped and transcl'ihed and published in a singl1! proceedings for hoth the SEM and IMEKO Jubilee celehrations: THE (iOLDEN BOOK OF STRAIN GACiES AND BRITTLE COATINGS. Perhaps we can allleam valuahle lessons during tlw Juhilel! celdll'ations in Portland, Oregon with SEM in June, and in Houston. 'li!Xas with IMEKO in October·! BE THERE!!'

MANAGING EDITOR Doris M Thackrey EDITORIAL ASSIST ANT Deborah A. Jones ADVERTISING MANAGER William P Milne EIT EDITORIAL COMMITIEE Mark f.. Tuttle. chat.-man Frank D. Adams George W. Eggeman Susan K. Foss Darrell R. Harting l.lnyd J. Lazarus Richard II. Marloll Rolll'rt C. Sch \\'iii"Z Stuart E. Swartz David W. Wiudst.,in Cf!nrgt! E.

\·Varn~n

David 1.. Willis SEM EXECUTIVE BOARD Claren<:e A Calder. presidPnt Susan K Foss. president -elec1 AlbertS. Kobayashi. vice-president Stuart E. Swartz. treasurer Kenneth A. Galione. managtng dtr<,.:tM Frank D Adams Jan M. Allison T. Dixon l.ludclerar Larry [) Mitchell Robert J. Rinn Reginald E. Robinson. Jr. William M Murrav. honorarv pr.. stdent SEM EDITORIAL COUNCIL Albert S. Kobayasht. chairman Kenneth A. Galione. se<:retary Frank U. Adams Cary L. Cloud James F. Doyle T.C Huang Don H. Morris Reginald E. Robinson. Jr. Stuart E. Swartz Mark E. Tuttle David W. Wmclstein Clarence A. Calder. er officto

PRESENT,

Peter K. Stein Stein Engineering Services, Inc. Coordinator, Jubilee Celebrations

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